Role Based Addresses
Role-based email addresses are typically assigned to a specific job function, team, or department rather than to a named individual. Examples include addresses like support@, admin@, or info@. These are often used by multiple recipients and are designed for handling shared responsibilities such as customer support, IT management, or general inquiries.
Why Role-Based Emails Pose a Risk
While role-based emails have legitimate uses, they are not ideal for email marketing or bulk communication. Here's why:
- Shared access: These inboxes are accessed by multiple people, so engagement is low and personalisation is limited.
- Not used for sign-ups: Businesses typically don’t subscribe to newsletters using these addresses, making them ineligible contacts under POPIA.
- High bounce rates: These inboxes can become inactive if the role is no longer used, which results in hard bounces.
- Higher complaint risk: Marketing emails sent to these addresses are more likely to be marked as spam, which hurts your sender reputation.
BulkMail’s Policy on Role-Based Addresses
To protect platform-wide deliverability and help users stay POPIA-compliant:
- BulkMail automatically removes role-based addresses during any bulk import.
You can still add them manually or allow them to subscribe via your sign-up forms, but only if:
- You have explicit permission
- The contact is actively maintained and relevant to your audience
We strongly recommend that you only include role-based addresses when you have verified that they are actively monitored and used for communication purposes, not just internal routing.
BulkMail's List of Blocked Role-Based Addresses (Bulk Imports)
The following addresses are stripped from bulk uploads to prevent deliverability issues:
abuse@ all@ billing@ compliance@ database@ devnull@ dns@ everyone@ exim@ fbl@ feedback@ ftp@ hostmaster@ inoc@ investorrelations@ ispfeedback@ ispsupport@ jobs@ request@ list@ listadmin@ maildaemon@ media@ reply@ noc@ null@ phish@ phishing@ post@ postbox@ postmaster@ prime@ privacy@ registrar@ remove@ request@ root@ security@ serviceadmin@ trap@ spam@ spamtrap@ subscribe@ support@ sysadmin@ tech@ recipients@ unsubscribe@ usenet@ users@ uucp@ webadmin@ webmaster@ welcome@ www@
Best Practice Recommendations
- Only use role-based emails with confirmed opt-in and documented consent.
- Segment them into a separate list if necessary and monitor performance.
- Avoid role-based addresses in your primary marketing sends unless they show active engagement.
- Always verify manually added addresses to ensure they’re valid and permission-based.
Maintaining a clean and compliant list not only avoids blacklists and bounces but also ensures that your emails are reaching real, engaged human readers — not unattended inboxes.